REVEALED: Nominee for Biden's top science adviser met with Jeffrey Epstein after he was convicted of soliciting prostitution
President Joe Biden's nominee for Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, Eric Lander, twice met with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein - which is now complicating his Senate confirmation.
Politico reported Thursday that Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell, who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, is asking for more information about those meetings.
'We're having a hearing on him next week and we'll see what happens with that,' Politico said she answered when asked about Lander's Epstein connections.
Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy nominee and presidential science adviser designate Eric Lander (pictured) has had his Senate confirmation complicated by two 2012 meetings he attended alongside convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein
President Joe Biden elevated the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy to a cabinet-level position, meaning Lander needs Senate approval before he can start the job. Lander's hearing is the latest of any of Biden's initial set of nominees
Jeffrey Epstein appears in a photograph taken for the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services' sex offender registry in 2017
A White House spokesperson told Politico that, 'Dr. Lander briefly met Epstein in Spring 2012, at two events with multiple Harvard donors, faculty and others, and he correctly decided to have nothing to do with Epstein.
Epstein pled guilty in 2008 to two prostitution charges, before being hit with more sex trafficking charges in 2019.
'As has been previously reported, neither Dr. Lander nor the Broad [Institute] solicited nor received any funding support from Epstein or his foundations, nor did he or the Broad have any relationship with Epstein,' the spokesperson added.
Lander is the director of the Broad Institute, a collaboration between MIT and Harvard. He's known for his work on the Human Genome Project.
Epstein was a big time donor to both universities.
Lander talked about the encounter with the sex criminal to BuzzFeed, telling the publication in 2019 that he attended 'an informal sandwich lunch at [Nowak's] institute to talk science with various people,' referencing Martin Nowak, a Harvard mathematical biologist.
Lander told BuzzFeed he didn't know Epstein would be there.
'I later learned about his more sordid history,' he said. 'I've had no relationship with Epstein.'
Nowak was punished by Harvard last month for giving Epstein an office on the university's campus.
He'll be allowed to continue teaching, but will have minimal facetime with students and his research institute is being shut down, ABC News said.
Lander isn't mentioned in reports conducted by Harvard and MIT that outline university contacts with Epstein.
Still, Epstein claimed on his foundation's website that he sponsored Lander's work, which Lander's spokesperson told The New York Times in 2019 wasn't true.
'Mr. Epstein appears to have made up lots of things, and this seems to be among them,' spokesperson Lee McGuire said.
Lander worked as a co-chair of the Presidential Council of Advisors on Science and Technology during President Barack Obama's presidency.
Biden selected him to direct the Office of Science and Technology Policy and be the official Presidential Science Advisor.
He also elevated the Office of Science and Technology Policy job to cabinet-level, which is why Lander needs a Senate confirmation vote.
His confirmation hearing is scheduled for April 29 - the last of any cabinet-level official already named by the president.
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